It has been five years since Brendon Gale quit as chief of the Australian Football League Players Association "to take over the running of the Richmond Football Club" just months after completing an AFLPA-funded advanced management course at Harvard, according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. Gale, who is "also popular, a good public performer and boasts a strong football and legal pedigree, remains at 45 the best-credentialled club chief executive to claim a chance of a place in the running to replace Andrew Demetriou" as AFL CEO. AFL Deputy CEO Gillon McLachlan "remains the favourite for Australian sport's most powerful job, particularly if the appointment is made from within the industry." However, it is "no coincidence that another AFLPA chief in Gale will be urged to put his hand up" (THE AGE, 3/5). In Melbourne, Jake Niall reported Demetriou "had to remain in his position" for '10-12 in order to receive his contentious A$2M ($1.8M) performance bonus last year. And Demetriou "has a clause in his employment agreement that will bar him from working for a competing code for a period of time when he leaves the AFL at season's end." The clause "would prevent him from working for rugby league, soccer or rugby union, for a standard period, believed to be 12 to 18 months." Competing sports are defined as ''football codes,'' leaving him free to work in any capacity for the likes of cricket, tennis or racing, though he says that "he has no interests in a job in another sport" (THE AGE, 3/6).

GENDER EQUALITY: In Sydney, Courtney Walsh reported as Demetriou launched the new season Wednesday night, he "declared the AFL was 'miles away' from where it should be in regards to gender equality." While two of the nine AFL commissioners are female -- Linda Dessau and Sam Mostyn -- and Peggy O’Neal is Richmond’s president, Demetriou believes that the league "is yet to do enough when it comes to the involvement of women in football." Demetriou: “In this International Women’s Week, in which the world recognizes the role of women in our society, we must remain open to the inclusion of women in all areas of our game. We are getting better but we’re miles away from where we must be, with more women in senior roles in the AFL and in clubs" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/6).

MORE DOPING: Also in Sydney, Andrew Faulkner reported the AFL captains "have hit back hard in the Essendon doping debate, saying naming players who might have taken peptides showed a lack of respect and decency." Condemning the act of publishing the “vulnerable” players’ names as unacceptable, Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich "dressed down a large media group assembled to interview the 18 club captains at Adelaide Oval" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/6).